Remember when adventure games trusted you to figure things out? When platforming required precise timing and spatial awareness rather than automated parkour systems that did everything for you? When puzzles stumped you for hours until that eureka moment? Solo developer Manuel Izquierda remembers, and he’s building Venturaka to recapture that magic. This 3D adventure game inspired by classic Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia just launched on Kickstarter seeking 20,000 euros to complete development.
Venturaka strips away modern gaming conveniences that smoothed difficulty curves into gentle slopes. No quest markers pointing exactly where to go. No automatic climbing that removes precision from platforming. No puzzle hints appearing after 30 seconds of standing still. Just you, expansive levels with complex designs, manual platforming demanding skill and creativity, thought-provoking puzzles testing your thinking abilities, and challenging gameplay that respects your intelligence enough to let you fail.
What Makes Classic Adventure Games Special
Manuel explains that while he enjoys modern adventure games like Uncharted, something essential was lost in the transition to cinematic experiences. Those games prioritize spectacle and narrative flow over player agency and challenge. The platforming practically plays itself. The puzzles rarely require more than basic observation. The linear structure funnels you through setpiece moments rather than letting you explore organically.
Classic Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia worked differently. Levels were expansive playgrounds with multiple paths, hidden secrets, and environmental hazards that demanded attention. Platforming required understanding momentum, jump distance, and precise timing. Miss a ledge grab and you fell to your death, forcing you to replay the section until muscle memory kicked in. Puzzles integrated into environments naturally rather than stopping gameplay for designated puzzle rooms.
Freeform Platforming Returns
The manual platforming system allows player creativity in traversal. Unlike modern games where you press forward and the character automatically parkours through obstacle courses, Venturaka requires deliberate inputs for every action. You decide when to jump, which ledge to grab, how to angle your body mid-air. This gives skilled players opportunities to find clever shortcuts or alternative routes that designers didn’t explicitly intend.
This philosophy embraces speedrunning culture where players break intended progression through creative movement exploitation. The best adventure games rewarded exploration and experimentation rather than punishing deviation from the golden path. Venturaka aims to recapture that openness where player skill determines progression rather than following scripted sequences.
Puzzles That Actually Puzzle
Modern adventure games often feature puzzles that telegraph solutions immediately or provide hints after brief delays. This removes the satisfaction of solving genuinely challenging brain teasers through careful observation and logical deduction. Venturaka promises thought-provoking puzzles that trust players to invest time figuring out solutions without constant guidance.
The best puzzles integrate seamlessly into environments, requiring players to notice details in architecture, lighting, sound, or object placement. Sometimes solutions involve combining multiple observations from different areas. Other times they demand experimentation with physics or mechanics introduced earlier. The key is making players feel smart for solving them rather than frustrated at arbitrary difficulty.
Expansive Level Design Philosophy
Complex level architecture provides the foundation for everything else. Large, interconnected spaces with vertical layering create opportunities for exploration, secret discovery, and multiple progression paths. Unlike linear corridors disguised as open areas, truly expansive levels let players get genuinely lost before developing mental maps through repeated traversal.
This design philosophy requires trusting players to navigate without constant guidance. Modern games often fear players missing content or getting confused, resulting in restrictive level geometry that funnels everyone through identical experiences. Venturaka embraces the possibility of players missing secrets or taking longer routes, recognizing that discovery feels more meaningful when it’s genuinely optional rather than guaranteed.
Solo Development Journey
Manuel already has one small title on Steam, providing experience with the complete development cycle from concept through release. Now he’s tackling something far more ambitious alone. Solo development means wearing every hat: programmer, designer, artist, animator, sound designer, marketer, and community manager. The workload is immense, but it ensures creative consistency where every decision serves the same vision.
The Kickstarter campaign seeks 20,000 euros to fund the remaining development. As of December 7, 2025, the campaign had raised 251 euros from 8 backers, averaging around 31 euros per backer. The campaign needs significant momentum to reach its goal, which is where community support becomes crucial. Small indie projects live or die based on whether they find their audience early enough to build sustainable funding.
Kickstarter Campaign Details
The campaign launched December 5, 2025, with a reveal trailer showcasing the game’s visual style, platforming mechanics, and environmental design. The footage demonstrates clear inspiration from PS1-era Tomb Raider with more modern graphical fidelity. Character movement appears deliberate and weighted rather than floaty or overly animated. Level architecture shows the kind of complex geometry that defined classic adventure games.
Pledge tiers and rewards haven’t been detailed in available sources, but typical campaigns offer digital copies at lower tiers with physical goods, art books, soundtrack access, and special edition packages at higher levels. Early bird discounts often incentivize quick backing. Stretch goals potentially add extra content like additional levels, characters, or features if funding exceeds the base target.
Community Reception
Early response on Reddit shows enthusiasm from players who’ve been waiting for indie developers to revive classic Tomb Raider gameplay. One commenter expressed excitement about finally seeing games tackle the original Tomb Raider style, planning to follow development closely. This validates that demand exists for challenging adventure games that reject modern design conveniences.
The challenge is reaching enough people who share this nostalgia and game design philosophy. Mainstream audiences have been conditioned by decades of increasingly accessible design that removes friction. Younger players who never experienced PS1-era adventure games might struggle with Venturaka’s demands. The target audience is likely older gamers who remember when challenge was expected rather than optional difficulty settings.
The Nostalgia Factor
Venturaka banks heavily on nostalgia for a specific era of game design. Classic Tomb Raider sold millions of copies, created a pop culture icon in Lara Croft, and spawned countless imitators. Prince of Persia defined cinematic platforming and fluid animation years before technology caught up to its ambitions. These games left lasting impressions on players who grew up with them.
But nostalgia alone doesn’t guarantee success. Indie games attempting to recreate retro experiences often discover that what worked 25 years ago doesn’t automatically translate to modern expectations. The key is understanding what made those games timeless rather than simply replicating their surface aesthetics and mechanics. Venturaka needs to prove it grasps the essential appeal beneath the nostalgia.
Why This Matters
The AAA industry has largely abandoned challenging adventure games in favor of cinematic action experiences. Even the Tomb Raider reboot series, while excellent, prioritized narrative spectacle over environmental puzzles and precision platforming. Uncharted perfected that formula but left a gap for players wanting more demanding gameplay. Indies stepping into that void serve audiences that major publishers consider too niche.
Games like Venturaka preserve design philosophies worth maintaining. Not everything needs streamlining for maximum accessibility. Some experiences benefit from demanding player engagement, rewarding persistence and skill acquisition. The satisfaction of finally conquering a difficult platforming sequence or solving a complex puzzle after extended effort creates memories that frictionless experiences can’t match.
What Happens Next
The Kickstarter campaign runs for approximately 30 days, giving Manuel time to build awareness and attract backers. Success requires reaching people through social media, YouTube coverage, Kickstarter’s discovery algorithms, and word-of-mouth recommendations from early supporters. The Reddit posts represent grassroots marketing trying to find the game’s core audience organically.
If funded, development continues toward a release likely 12-24 months away depending on scope and any complications. Solo development timelines are unpredictable, especially for ambitious projects. If the campaign falls short, Manuel faces difficult decisions about scaling back features, seeking alternative funding, or shelving the project temporarily. Kickstarter operates on all-or-nothing funding, so missing the goal means receiving zero dollars.
FAQs
What is Venturaka?
Venturaka is a single-player 3D adventure game inspired by classic titles like Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider. It features expansive levels with complex designs, manual platforming requiring precision, thought-provoking puzzles, and challenging gameplay with no handholding or modern convenience features.
Who is developing Venturaka?
Manuel Izquierda, a solo indie developer with one previous title on Steam, is creating Venturaka entirely alone. He handles all aspects of development including programming, design, art, and animation while working on this project as his most ambitious undertaking yet.
When did the Kickstarter launch?
The Kickstarter campaign for Venturaka launched on December 5, 2025, seeking 20,000 euros to complete development. The campaign runs for approximately 30 days with early funding showing 251 euros raised from 8 backers as of December 7.
What platforms will Venturaka release on?
Platform details haven’t been explicitly confirmed in available sources, though given Manuel’s previous Steam release and the PC-focused Kickstarter campaign, a PC release via Steam seems certain. Console versions may depend on funding success and development resources.
How is Venturaka different from modern adventure games?
Venturaka rejects modern design conveniences like quest markers, automatic climbing, puzzle hints, and linear level design. It emphasizes player skill and creativity through manual platforming, complex environmental puzzles, and expansive levels that encourage exploration without constant guidance.
What games inspired Venturaka?
The primary inspirations are classic Tomb Raider (PS1 era) and Prince of Persia, games known for challenging platforming, environmental puzzles, and complex level designs. Manuel cites appreciation for modern games like Uncharted while longing for the more open-ended gameplay of earlier adventure titles.
When will Venturaka be released?
No specific release date has been announced. If the Kickstarter succeeds, development would continue with release likely 12-24 months afterward depending on scope and any unforeseen complications typical of solo development projects.
Supporting the Return of Challenge
Venturaka represents more than nostalgia for old games. It’s a statement that challenge, player agency, and trust in audience intelligence still have value. Modern game design often assumes players need constant guidance and friction removal to enjoy experiences. Projects like this prove segments of the gaming audience actively want the opposite, difficulty that respects their time by making victories feel earned rather than scripted. Check out the Kickstarter campaign, watch the trailer, and consider whether supporting this return to classic adventure game design aligns with the kinds of experiences you want to see in gaming’s future. Sometimes the best way forward is remembering what worked in the past.